Eric SezgenWith COP 27 currently ongoing in Egypt and the Biden administration’s recent ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, I’ll dedicate my first Mastodon post to an upcoming 100th birthday taking place on December 8th. Dr. Mostafa Tolba, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), is widely considered to be one of the architects of modern international environmental law and the Montreal Protocol.
Dr. Tolba was an Egyptian scientist who worked as a professor at the University of Baghdad, served in the Egyptian civil service as Under-Secretary of State for Higher Education, and also was the head of Egypt’s Olympic Committee before becoming the second leader of UNEP.
Though not as well known as some of the figures now associated with the climate regime, Dr. Tolba is regarded as a central orchestrator of the early ozone regime and helped create one of the great successes in international environmental governance that benefits the entire world today.
In “Protecting the Ozone Layer: The United Nations History” Richard E. Benedick, a delegate from the United States, recounts Dr. Tolba’s contribution to those efforts (long quote coming):
“In January 1985, I led a small American delegation to a little-noticed international meeting in Geneva, where we and a handful of like-minded countries tried, and finally failed in the face of strong opposition from other negotiating parties, to achieve an agreement to limit CFCs; for three years, this group had struggled in vain...We were discouraged.
Very few gamblers would have waged that in less than three years, the Montreal Protocol would initiate a process that would soon lead to a global commitment to phase out this extremely useful family of chemicals. The critical early ozone negotiations, which produced the most innovations, were remarkably short and small by today’s standards.
Ultimately, it seems to me that the ozone history defies efforts of analysts to produce a connect-the-numbers guide to successful negotiation. Leadership, by countries and by individuals, remains a crucial intangible factor. The unusual dedication, persuasiveness and energy of Mostafa Tolba in the critical early years, for example, played a decisive role in the protocol’s success.
Much depends on serendipity, and on individuals being in the right place at the right time…. It was an unforgettable virtuoso performance, a role that he undertook with unflagging energy and with absolutely no consideration for his own personal popularity. If the ‘ozone story’ can be likened to the preparation of a Michelin three-star feast, then Dr. Tolba was the master chef: the rest of us were cook’s apprentices—salad chefs, pastry chefs and onion peelers.”